Manslaughter case following “potato row” case ends in acquittal

July 28, 2017

James Turner (Partner) and Sharon Bailey (Advocate) at Tuckers’ Birmingham office secured the acquittal of client Mark Jennens in a sad case following the death of his mother following a row over potatoes on Christmas Eve.

Mr Jennens had acted as the carer for his elderly mother for more than 10 years and she suffered a fall when he tried to move her from the table after a row over the dinner table. Hazel Jennens suffered an injury to her hip in the fall, but Mr Jennens was subsequently charged with manslaughter when the prosecution deemed that the fall was a significant factor in the bronchopneumonia, which Mrs Jennens contracted in hospital and caused her death. Mr Jennens was charged with her manslaughter.

The court had heard that for more than ten years Mr Jennens had cared for his mother who suffered from lung cancer and emphysema. He had suffered a breakdown in early 2015 and sought help from social services to care for Mrs Jennens, who he said was a ‘difficult’ woman who could be ‘evil’ towards him, but she had refused external support.

Sharon Bailey successfully argued there had been a ‘break in the chain of causation’ when Mrs Jennens was incorrectly administered Salbutamol in hospital two days before she died. The jury took less than an hour and a half to acquit Mr Jennens.